Ned Kelly Awards 2024 winners announced

The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards winners.

The winning works in each category, chosen from shortlists announced in August, are:

Best crime fiction

• Darling Girls (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)

Best international crime fiction

• The Only Suspect (Louise Candlish, S&S)

Best true crime

• Crossing the Line (Nick McKenzie, Hachette)

Best debut crime fiction

• Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point (Matt Francis, Big Sky).

The panel of judges described Hepworth’s Darling Girls as ‘an absolutely compelling novel … cleverly written and exquisitely plotted’, while describing Candlish’s The Only Suspect as ‘a twisty, past versus present psychological thriller’. The judges said McKenzie’s Crossing the Line was ‘an explosive investigation into one of Australia’s most highly decorated soldiers Ben Roberts Smith and McKenzie’s dogged pursuit to uncover the truth’ and praised Francis’s debut as ‘complex and well written with a great sense of place and community’.

Category: Awards Local news